Writing in his Daily Telegraph column Neville suggests that big decisions will have to be made by the City hierarchy in the next year or two leaving them with a race against time to win the big one.

"The value of those players will drop quite sharply in the next 18 months because everyone will know they are going over the edge. People used to say of Ferguson: 'Why has he sold this or that player when he's still performing really well?' Answer: because he knew what was coming.

"There is a trace of that now with City. Their problem, though, is that Financial Fair Play is chasing them down the road. So their option is to sell big now and buy young replacements in the next 12 months.

"If they wait any longer they will be in trouble on the saleable value of the current players. Another route would be to bring through academy graduates."